Railway heater system.



No. 704,797. Patented .luly l5, I902.

S. H. HARRINGTON. RAILWAY HEATER SYSTEM.

(Application filed Jan. 3, 1901.)

(No Model.)

cjme avwmlfoz as 4 an 13 ozwmg y S.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL H. HARRINGTON, OF NE\V YORK, N. Y.

RAILWAY H EATER SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 704,797, dated July 15,1902. Application filed January 3, 1901. Serial No. 42,006. (No model.)

To all, whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SAMUEL H. HARRING- TON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of NewYork, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway HeaterSystems, of which the followingisafull, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to heaters for streetrailway cars and the like;and its object is to provide means for effectively preventing thecurrent from being used simultaneously to heat the car and operate themotor.

The invention, broadly speaking, com prises suitable connections betweenthe brake mechanism and the switch or controller for the heater-circuitwhereby when the brakes are applied the heater circuit or circuits willbe closed and when the brakes are released the heater circuit orcircuits will be opened. With such construction the heater circuit orcircuits will be closed only when the brakes are applied, and as thebrakes are never applied except when the current is cutoif from themotor (many street-railway controllers having specially-devisedmechanism for preventing the operation of the brakes except when thecurrent is cut off) the current will not be used simultaneously for bothheater and motor.

In the accompanying drawingsIhave shown in diagrammatic form astreet-car embodying my invention, it being understood that the partstherein shown are intended as conventional representations of anywell-known form of apparatus for performing the functions of therespective parts.

In the drawings, Figure l is a side view of a portion of a car equippedwith my invention and showing the various parts in diagram, and Fig. 2is a detail side View of the heater-switch.

A represents the body of the car suitably mounted upon the running gearB, comprising the wheels at a.

b I) represent brakes for the Wheels eta, the brakes being suitablymounted and connected in any well-known manner with the brakelever d,which is connected by the brake-rod e and the chain f with thebrake-handle g.

It will be understood that instead of the mechanism here shown anywell-known in echanism may be used to operate the brakes.

Upon the brake-rod c are fixed two collars h 72, between which the endsof a bifurcated bell-crank lever tsurround the brake-rod, the lever 1'being pivoted at j, and thus caused to move backward or forward as thebrake-rod is moved. A rod 76 or other suitable means connects the end ofbell-crank lever-2' with the switch which controls the supply of currentto the heater or heaters. The switchlshown in the drawings is anordinary drum-controller, such as is commonly used for heatercircuits,and the connection is made in the drawings by connecting the rod 7a to alever m, attached to and moving the drumr of the controller in onedirection or the other, according as the lever is moved up or down bythe rod 70. Upon drum 7- is carried the contact-segment 3, adapted toengage the fingers t. Finger t is connected to wire 19, and wire (1 isattached to drum '1' and leads to segment 8. In the position shown inthe drawings the brakes are set and rod has turned the drum to close theswitch by bringing finger t and segment 3 in contact. It Will beunderstood that any other suitable type of switch or connection theretofrom the brake operating mechanism may be employed for the purpose.

0 o 0 represent the heaters, and p q the electric circuit connecting thesame through the controller or switch Z from the trolley-wire it toground, and o w is a circuit from the trolley through the contact a; andmotor y to ground. The parts are so adjusted that when the brakes are inthe off position the circuits through the switch Z will be opened andwhen the brakes are on the circuits will be closed.

In operation the motorman to stop the car will first shut off currentfrom the motor and then apply the brakes. Upon moving the brake-rod e toapply the brakes the lever 2' is moved, which lever in turn moves rod 70and closes the circuit through the heaters by turning the controller orswitch properly. As long as the brakes are thus applied the heaters willdraw current and heat the car. \Vhen the brakes are released, themovement of the rod 6 in the opposite direction will move lever Q androd 70 to rotate drum 1", and thus open the heater-circuits.

WVith the device above described each car in a train of cars may beequipped, so that each car may be heated independently of the others andso that it is unnecessary to make heater connections throughout thetrain at the time of making up. Furthermore, in a system operating anumber of cars and operated from a central station having a capacitynormally sufficient for the motors of all the cars, but not all theheaters and motors together, such station cannot be overloaded, and inany system the consumption of current is more nearly equalizedthroughout the system.

It will of course be understood that the devices above described may bemodified in various respects without departing from the spirit of myinvention, and I therefore desire it to be understood that I do notherein limit myself to the precise construction and arrangement of partsherein shown.

The heater-switch Z may be located in any convenient part of the car-forillustration, under the seats.

Having thus described my invention, I declare that what I claim as new,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a railway system, a main source of electrical supply, a car having amotor for propelling the same and deriving its power from said source ofelectrical supply, an electric heater upon said car and deriving energyfrom said source of electrical supply, a switch controlling the circuitof said heater, brakes upon said car, brake-operating mechanism, andoperative connection between said brakeoperating mechanism and saidswitch whereby the latter is operated by the operation of the former;substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

SAMUEL H. HARRINGTON.

I/Vitnesses:

HENRY BEST, 0. V. EDWARDS.

